Enhancing skills and knowledge of social care staff when supporting LGBTQ+ residents of Newham

Project Background

Promoting wellbeing in a person-centred way involves understanding the whole person.

Sexuality and gender identity are fundamental to who an individual is. It is important that the workforce and residents of Newham Council feel comfortable having conversations about sexuality and gender identity in the context of wellbeing, and that services in the borough meet the care and support needs of LGBTQ+ communities. This project is based in London, England, and its supporting host organisation is Newham Council.

IMPACT Factfile

How can adult social care better support LGBTQ+ residents in Newham?

Get Involved

We are looking for Newham residents who currently or previously have accessed adult social care, and social care staff in Newham (current or previous), to share their views. Your feedback will help us understand what helps create more respectful, inclusive and supportive conversations about sexuality and gender in adult social care.

What we’d like to hear about from staff

Anyone working in adult social care, in Newham Council or other local organisations will be asked:

  • How comfortable you feel talking to residents about sexuality and gender identity
  • What helps or makes it harder to have these conversations
  • What would help create a more supportive environment for everyone

What we’d like to hear about from residents

LGBTQ+ residents living in Newham, whether or not you currently use adult social care,
family, friends and supporters of LGBTQ+ residents, will be asked:

  • How you feel when staff ask (or don’t ask) about sexuality and gender identity
  • What helps these conversations feel safe and respectful
  • What advice you’d give to staff who want to be inclusive

What’s involved:

A relaxed, confidential chat (30 – 45 minutes). In person, online, or by phone – whatever’s easiest for you.

To get involved:

Contact Sebastian Buser by emailing: [email protected]

Share this opportunity with others you know through these downloadable postcards: Staff postcard, resident postcard.

Project Updates

So far, a lot of the work has been about listening and bringing together lived experience, practitioner insight and community knowledge to understand what better LGBTQ+ inclusive support could look like in practice. Alongside this, I’ve been developing a set of practice-focused resources, including staff personas, co-created resident stories and a short zine, all designed to help staff feel more confident having conversations around sexuality and gender identity and to create space for reflection.

The zine is currently being collated following a workshop with CAYA (Come As You Are), an LGBTQ+ youth group in Newham. It brings together short reflections and messages from participants about what they want adult social care staff to understand about their experiences.

The next stage is about refining these materials and testing how they might be used in practice, particularly in training and workforce development.

Collage of images related to LGBTQ. Includes terms 'pronouns', 'images of queer people', and 'don't presume we r str8t'

Meet Our Facilitator: Sebastian Buser

Sebastian Buser

I’m Sebastian, Facilitator based with Newham Council where my role is to enhance staff knowledge and skills in supporting LGBTQ+ residents in adult social care. My focus is on helping staff feel confident and comfortable when addressing sexuality and gender identity with residents. I bring experience in academic research, inclusive education, creative arts practice, community engagement on LGBTQ+ inclusion and frontline social care work.

If you wish to get involved with this project, email: [email protected]